Open to traditional and non-traditional auditions
The YouTube community could upload a video audition for an orchestral instrument, or upload a video improvisation for any instrument to a piece specially composed for the orchestra, opening up the audition process to musicians of all backgrounds.
The popular vote and our judges, from the world's leading orchestras, chose the final list of 101 musicians from 33 countries who made up the orchestra, including four soloists with instruments as diverse as the electric guitar and the Chinese guzheng. The musicians ranged from 14 to 49 years old and included among them professionals and amateurs, students and teachers, some who toured the world and some of whom had never set foot outside their home country.
Even non-musicians could make music
We developed an innovative augmented reality musical instrument you can play using your webcam and a symbol on your phone or on printed paper -- meaning that, in the true spirit of YouTube Symphony, anyone really could get involved and make music. The app included the ability to record and share your musical creations -- some users even submitted auditions using the tool.
Six months of changing phases and content
The YouTube channel boasts 200+ uploads and 50+ playlists housed in an innovative brand channel on YouTube, making it a launchpad for watching classical music related content, from master classes by the world's leading musicians at our partner orchestras to other classical music channels.
The channel is translated into 23 languages which includes translated captions on English language videos.
The campaign evolved throughout the six months of the 2011 programme to reflect the contest stage, beginning with accepting auditions and then going on to allow voting, meeting the winners, keeping up with developments in Sydney, and watching the concert live stream itself.
Watch everywhere
We also offered a mobile app on Android, iOS, and to web-enabled phones to watch all the video content from the channel and view the live stream. Over 40% of the video content is watched via mobile. The Android app was a runaway success with over 175K downloads and a 4-star rating, making it one of the most popular musician apps in the market.
Online promotion
We promoted YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 with a coordinated, integrated cross-media marketing and PR campaign on YouTube, Google, and third party properties. Some of the media we employed included:
